Horse Killing Birds in Paddock?!

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TwiggyL

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A few months ago, I witnessed my friends horse head butt a blackbird in mid air and knock it to the floor. Not sure if that one survived, however, she has found 2 additional dead blackbirds in the field since! We are very confused! Is she just a ninja, how unusual is this, and has anyone ever witnessed something similar?!
 
Jay Man would kill birds and rats in the field. It started when I would feed him as I went to work, and he was not for sharing his breakfast!

He did not head butt them though, he stomped them with a front foot.
 
Gloi said:
I knew a Shetland that would chase and try and kill anything in his field. Had a pheasant or two.
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My Tiny Fuzzy has killed a pheasant! She also chases anything out of her field too, but has now learned to not approach me if I have the dog with me, tho this took a while and even now its easier to pop all fuzzies in if I need to work in their paddock.
She has also tried to attack the neighbours feral cat, he nearly lost one of his lives only last week when he was crossing the field to get back to his yard and just made it under the fence with a hefty cross mini Shetland stamping her feet in frustration!

I generally don't discourage it, you never know when her 'talents' might actually protect her and the other fuzzies.
 
I’m glad I read this! I was offered use of a field (which I could really use!) that’s so much more convenient than my own but it has a footpath and my Shetland and retired horse will chase dogs. I said this, obviously thinking them very much but they looked quite shocked like by boys were untrained morons 😂
 
Interesting thread. I never knew horses killed things 😮. I have one that chases dogs but that's as exciting as it gets!
 
Leo Walker said:
Leo killed a baby goat in his retirement home and came very close to being PTS, again!
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Uh oh - hopefully not sharing his field with them any more??

I don't trust my mare at all with animals. Dogs she will chase and I have seen her pick a cat up by its tail and wave it around. She does it for the entertainment as far as I can tell - I could see her headbutting birds out of the air if she realised it was a 'thing'!!!
 
Never seen my 2 do anything like that Arabi will share his feed with the dog quite happily, we often have muntjac dear in there field they don't bat an eyelid at those or any of the pheasants that ate around at the moment.
 
Gray won't share his food but Jeff loves all animals and will happily have pheasants and chickens eating out of his bucket with him - even to the extent that they are in between his front feet and he is ever so careful around them. There was a dead pigeon in his field a good few years ago and he was absolutely distraught! He was running circles round it winneying- as best he can as he has been hobdayed. He kept nudging it and went mental when I took it away. He is such a sensitive soul!
 
I know a lady whose horse found a dead crow (although this thread is making me wonder if he really 'found' it) and was caught licking the blood off the ground. :eek:

They amended his diet to include more iron I think!

Denzel has chased rabbits but that was when he was individual turnout and I think it was more 'playtime' than territorial... maybe...
 
Years ago I owned an ex-racehorse who would kill any rat that dared to enter his stable- he must have had lightening reflexes- but was absolutely fine around any other type of animal. A few years ago I wondered why my old hunter would end up with bird droppings in a very specific spot on his back (whilst he was living out) until one morning I saw a starling sitting on his back. The bird became braver and it got to the point where it would be there every morning and ride around on the horse whilst I did the chores- I'm not sure if he liked his feet being warm or was trying to catch the flies that were attracted to the horse! The horse seemed very happy with the arrangement, and would take great care if he went down to roll. Sadly the horse had to be PTS unexpectedly, and the bird seemed to pine (or missed it's free meal), hanging around for a few weeks until it eventually left.
 
Sorry to change the subject but I saw the tiniest baby muntjac in the road last week, we had to stop to let him cross the road he was a bit stunned by the lights, I have never seen such a tiny one he was so cute you could have put him in your handbag:D
 
There's a story (guaranteed true but you never know) about a Household Cavalry horse who would save nuts in his cheeks at breakfast, spit them out when he was standing guard at St. James' and then when a pigeon came to eat them stamp on it....
 
Had a horse that cornered & flattened rats. We think used to pummel the corner of the stable when the rat had run into the corner, as you'd find much of the straw scraped back from the bank and in the flat bit left behind was a flat rat under the remaining straw.
 
Does anyone else find it a surprising that horses kill for what seems like fun. Obviously dogs and cats do it but I never know horses did it. I didn't know it was something that herbivores did.
 
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